1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to reusable drinking containers and more particularly to a personal drinking container having a cap assembly with a tether.
2. Description of Related Art
Personal drinking containers are known in the art and can have a strap or tether to retain a cap assembly on the bottle of the container. Some cap straps can provide dual functions. The straps both retain the cover or cap assembly connected to the bottle and can create a finger hold for carry the container. Some known straps are quite stiff and configured and arranged to keep the cap close the mouth of the bottle. As a result, the cap can interfere with drinking from and refilling the bottle. Such a cap must typically be held away from the user's face by hand in order for a user to drink from the beverage container opening. Other known straps are limp or soft and completely flexible. The cap tethered by such a strap must still be held out of the way because the cap can swing about or dangle and interfere with drinking or refilling.
Some known drinking containers have bottles made of a resilient flexible material, such as polyethylene or polypropylene. Many of these flexible bottles make use of a one-way valve or drinking spout configured to allow the user to squeeze the bottle repeatedly to dispense the contents. Many of these bottles, once squeezed, do not rebound very quickly. Significant return air flow is thus required through the drinking spout to aid in bottle rebound. Other bottles are made of a more rigid material, such as polycarbonate or PVC, and cannot be squeezed. Many of these types of bottles require the user to drink from the wide mouth opening of the bottle.
Additionally, users may wish to fill or refill a bottle when away from a reliable source of potable water. Thus, several known water bottles are configured to include a filtration system or replaceable filter. Some portable water filtration systems may not be easily and quickly used “on the go.” Some require that the water be manually pumped through a filter to a temporary storage container before dispensing for drinking. Others do have a charcoal filter that can be employed with the bottle. These types of filters often deposit larger chunks of filter material and/or much smaller “fines” of the filter material in the stream of water to be consumed.
Consumers may not be certain when a filter medium should be replaced. Virtually all filter media will eventually reach a point where the filtering capability is spent. The filter media when spent will either no longer function to filter out the desired chemicals and contaminants or at least become ineffective in doing so. Additionally, the filter media and structure typically inhibits or decreases free flow of water when dispensed from the bottle. Some application of positive pressure is often required to dispense the water. Further, the filter construction and media can inhibit the return air flow back into the bottle once water is dispensed from the bottle.